


Oh to be Young Again

by SingingInTheRaiin



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Anakin is in love with Obi-Wan, Happy Ending, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, I haven't seen the prequels in a very long time, I mess with the timeline a bit, M/M, Obi-Wan is only like a little bit older than Anakin, Obi-Wan is too selfless and reckless for his own good, Possessive Anakin, Protective Anakin Skywalker, and Obi-Wan loves him back, slightly unhealthy relationship, so i'm sorry if things are out of order here, some things were skipped for the sake of not quite fitting the narrative here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 04:28:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18296843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingingInTheRaiin/pseuds/SingingInTheRaiin
Summary: Anakin and Obi-Wan are around the same age, and are raised together in the temple. They quickly become inseparable friends, and they grow and learn together under the tutelage of Master Jinn.





	Oh to be Young Again

As he stopped to catch his breath, he looked back to see how close his enemy was. But he’d been foolish, and had forgotten about the fact that Anakin had no qualms about using the force to cheat, no matter how many times he had been told that it was abusing the force to utilize it in such a way.

Obi-Wan was suddenly being tackled to the ground by an invisible weight, and he struggled to no avail, and it wasn’t long before Anakin caught up, and crouched down in front of Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan squeezed his eyes shut, prepared to be destroyed, but then he was suddenly let free, and Anakin tackled him in person.

They rolled around a few times before Obi-Wan triumphantly ended up pinning Anakin to the ground. “Ha! I got you, Ani!”

Anakin laughed. “I let you.”

“No you didn’t,” Obi-Wan insisted. But then he paused because he couldn’t be entirely sure of whether it was true or not. Anakin was very strong in the force, and probably could have easily used it to fling Obi-Wan away if he’d been trying. As he realized that, Obi-Wan’s shoulders slumped down, and he ended up leaning more of his weight against Anakin. “It’s no fair,” he complained. “If you let me win then neither of us are satisfied.” 

He went to get up, but Anakin suddenly reached up to grab Obi-Wan’s hips to hold him in place. “Don’t be a sore loser.” He started to sit up without displacing Obi-Wan.

Before anything else could happen- though Obi-Wan wasn’t quite sure what that ‘anything’ might entail, they could hear the sound of one of the creche masters clearing their throat. “There you boys are. Could one of you please explain to me why you are out here instead of inside practicing your katas?”

Obi-Wan tried to get up so that he could face their teacher head on, but Anakin held onto him rather insistently. He shot his friend a quick look of confusion, but when he was only met with an overly casual innocence, he just sighed and tilted his head back to look up at the creche master. “We’ve already got them down well enough. Being in there is boring.”

The creche master arched one eyebrow. “Is that so? Because the last time everyone practiced, neither of you seemed to be particularly further ahead in your studies than any of your peers. If you’re so sure of yourselves, then prove your skills to me right now, and I will apologize to you in front of the entire class. If you fail, then you will both be on chore duties for the next three months. Care to back down now?”

Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged a mischievous glance, and then looked back at the teacher. They both hopped up to their feet almost simultaneously. “Let’s do this!” Anakin declared loudly. 

They were led back inside to the practice rooms, where all the other students were watching them with varying levels of judgement in their eyes. The teacher tossed both of them the wooden practice staffs, and then stood back with their arms crossed over their chest. “Alright then. Prove yourselves if you are not foolish enough to give up now.”

Obi-Wan and Anakin immediately launched into their practice moves. They both had slightly different styles, but neither held back, and soon everyone was gathered around them in a circle, cheering them on in a decidedly un-Jedi way. With the encouragement of their peers, the two who were sparring only felt motivated to keep on going. But after going on for long enough, both of them seemed to forget entirely about their audience, and they were lost in their own little world that only contained the two of them within it. 

Eventually, Obi-Wan managed to knock away Anakin’s staff, and then shoved him down to the ground, holding the edge of his staff up against Anakin’s breath. The sudden roaring applause felt like something of a shock, as Obi-Wan remembered just where they were. He reached down one hand to help Anakin back up to his feet, and then they both turned to face the teacher. Anakin bowed down, a cheesy grin on his face. Obi-Wan clasped his hands together behind his back and bowed his head in what he hoped would be seen as at least slightly respectful.

The teacher stared at them for several long seconds, and then gulped once. “I see that I was wrong now. I apologize. However, in the future if you feel that you have mastered a skill, then I request you tell one of the creche masters so that you can receive new assignments.” They hesitated for a moment before continuing. “You were only average when we last practiced. When did you get so good?”

Truthfully, they had been intentionally downplaying themselves that last time a few weeks back. Obi-Wan had gotten a bit of a head cold, and Anakin hadn’t wanted to beat down a sick opponent, so they’d gone very lightly on each other. In general, the two of them were able to shine their peers because they constantly practiced in their own time, and because they both enjoyed the thrill of doing their sparring and exercises together. But since the staffs were kept locked up at night, it seemed inappropriate to be truthful about their private training sessions. “Natural talent,” Obi-Wan offered in a mild voice.

Anakin snickered, but didn’t say anything to go against the statement. It’s not like it was entirely unbelievable, at least not in Anakin’s case. Everyone with even the slightest smidge of force sensitivity could feel how he was practically a supernova in the force, shining almost impossibly brightly compared to all other living things.

When the creche was dismissed for the day to go about the rest of their chores, and also to have some time to themselves to play amongst themselves, Anakin and Obi-Wan went back to the dorms. They both flopped down onto their beds, which were right next to each other in the long hallway-shaped room of beds. “Obi-Wan, do you think things are going to change once we get masters?”

Anakin was eleven and Obi-Wan was turning thirteen in a couple of weeks, and both of them were very talented, if troublesome, students. Many people were surprised that neither of them had been made padawans yet, considering how much potential they both showed. Thirteen was when most students were considered to have aged out, and would be sent away to return home or work on the farms, or something else equally humiliating. 

Obi-Wan shook his head. “I don’t see why they would. Jedi are allowed to have friends as long as they’re not attached, right? So we won’t be able to see each other quite as often, but nothing will stop us from being friends.” He could feel the tinges of Anakin’s worry in the force. “What’s wrong? Do you not believe me?” He turned his head to the side to look over at Anakin.

Anakin was staring up at the ceiling as he shrugged. “You’re going to age out soon. Why hasn’t anyone taken you on yet? You’re a brilliant student. Definitely way more hard working than me. What will happen to us if you don’t-”

“I’ll get a master,” Obi-Wan said in his most reassuring tone. “Don’t fret about it. Everything is going to be just fine, I promise.”

,,,

Everything was not fine. Anakin had been sent out on errands with some of the other students, only to return to the temple and find that Obi-Wan was gone. He wanted to scream and smash things and make a nuisance of himself to show how angry he was. How dare they take away his chance to say goodbye to his best friend in the entire galaxy? And how dare they even send Obi-Wan away in the first place? Anakin had accepted that he and Obi-Wan would be given different masters and would be forcefully separated, but this was completely unacceptable, to think that he might never see Obi-Wan again. 

Even though he was just a child with no power or say over anything, he stormed into the Jedi Council, trying to face the adults down with his most fearsome look. He planted his feet solidly against the floor, and put his hands on his hips. “Bring Obi-Wan back here right now! You all know that he’s too talented to waste away on Agri-Corp!”

Yoda looked down at Anakin with something close to disappointment. “Attachment-free, you are not. In need of separation, you are.”

Anakin scowled. “Just because Obi-Wan and I are friends doesn’t mean that we would let that affect us out in the field!” 

Windu arched one eyebrow, looking unfairly amused. “You would say that you are unaffected as you stand before us making demands? You know that attachments are forbidden, Anakin. You still have time to learn this. Obi-Wan has had plenty of time, but has not yet figured that out.”

“It is a moot point anyways,” one of the other council members pointed out. “No master wanted to take Obi-Wan as their padawan.”

Anakin clenched his hands into fists. “That can’t be true! He’s the best student in the creche! He works harder than anyone! If you had to send one of us away, then it should have been me, not him!”

“Wanted, you already are. Argued to keep you, Master Jinn did.”

Despite what most people seemed to think, Anakin wasn’t generally as impulsive as it appeared. He gave a lot of thought to almost everything that he did. He just thought about it quickly. Like right now, for instance. He wanted to be a Jedi, and someday stop slavery and save his mom and be a hero and have power for once in his life. But he would give that all up in a blink of the eye for Obi-Wan. He opened his mouth to declare that he was quitting the Jedi order if Obi-Wan wasn’t brought back. 

But before any words could actually come out, one of the council members made a sharp gasping noise, and the others all immediately looked over at her. “This incoming message from Master Jinn-!”

Someone quickly pulled the message up as a hologram in the center of the room so that everyone could watch it together. A fuzzy blue Qui-Gon Jinn was looking rather frazzled, and it was strange to see. The few times that Anakin had seen the Jedi master around the temple, he had always looked so serene, even as he did things that other Jedi would consider to be mischievous. “It looks as though I cannot outrun my past,” Jinn said grimly. “Xanatos attacked our transport, looking for me. I know that you’re probably busy and not going to see this message until after a little more time has passed, but I must press on without any backup. When I was injured, a youngling aboard the transport jumped to my defense, and Xanatos has taken him. I must rescue that youngling before my former apprentice can do anything permanent. I hope to report in again soon.” Then the image paused. 

Yoda turned to the council member who had displayed the message. “Arrived when, this message?”

She double checked before looking back at him. “About three hours ago. There was a delay in the sending, most likely caused by a spot of bad reception.”

Even as the rest of the council began talking, Anakin could barely hear them over the sound of his own heart pounding away in his chest. “What transport was that?” he asked suddenly. Younglings were generally kept in their temples, and on the planets that their temples were on, not transported around. And Jinn had specifically said ‘youngling’. Not a knight or a master or a random bystander, but a youngling.

Windu looked over at Anakin like he’d forgotten that the boy was still standing there. “This is none of your concern, Skywalker. Perhaps you should run along back to the creche and find something productive to do.”

Anakin clenched his teeth together. “Which transport?” he insisted.

“To Agri-Corp, it was headed.” Yoda told him quietly. “Do now, what will you?”

What a stupid question. Of course Anakin was going to head out and figure out how to help. Because he knew without a doubt that Obi-Wan was exactly the kind of person who would jump in and protect someone, even if that someone had rejected them. Obi-Wan had always just cared about people, no matter how much Anakin tried to convince him that he was going to get himself killed if he kept acting so selfless. This was one of the few times that Anakin hated to be right. 

“I’ll head back to the creche, just like you suggested,” Anakin said with a barely hidden sneer. He didn’t care about whether or not the council believed him. He then turned and ran out of the room without a single apology or attempt to excuse himself. He ran straight for the docking bay, trying to figure out which ship would be least missed, and then climbed aboard to turn it on. He’d never before been so glad that he had a natural talent with machines and flying.

Before he could actually take off, though, the radio onboard was called, and Anakin let out a small sigh before answering. He didn’t need to get into more trouble than he was surely already in. “There is no need for you to run off on a suicidal quest, Skywalker. Master Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi have both been recovered, alive. They will be returning to the temple as soon as possible.” There was a slight pause before Windu added, “And we never had this conversation, since you went back to the creche, just like you said you would.” Then he abruptly hung up.

Anakin just sat there for a few minutes, trying to get over the sudden shifts in emotion that he’d been forced to feel in the past few minutes. He’d gone from being completely pissed off and wanting to quit the order, to being terrified of Obi-Wan getting himself killed, to complete and utter relief at knowing that Obi-Wan was okay. Or at the very least, he was alive.

After getting himself a bit more in order, he slipped out of the ship and headed to the dorm. He wanted to go straight to the infirmary to wait for Obi-Wan there, but decided that it would be better for both of them if he showed some rare patience at the moment. Too bad he’d never been as good at meditation as Obi-Wan, because he could certainly use some time to calm his thoughts. 

Maybe there was actually something to all of the times that Obi-Wan had told him he needed to work on building up his patience. He had no idea how Obi-Wan and all of the Jedi masters managed to do it. 

Anakin had no idea how long he’d been waiting on his bed (three hours, twenty-six minutes, and forty-eight seconds) when one of the other younglings entered the dorm and walked straight over to his bed to poke him in the arm. “Master Yoda said that you need to report to the infirmary.”

Surprised that anyone had even remembered him, but pleased to have permission to do what he needed, Anakin bolted up and ran through the hallways, ignoring the disapproval that he could feel radiating off of several of the adults that he passed by. None of them seemed capable of understanding that sometimes there were more important things in life than following all of the temple rules.

He reached the infirmary in record speed, but then stopped to catch his breath so that he could walk inside quietly. He wouldn’t want to be sent away for being too disruptive, of course. And he wouldn’t want to scare Obi-Wan by bursting in there.

Once he was inside, Anakin slowly walked down the hallway, peering into each room to try and spot his best friend. He wasn’t having much luck, though he did pause when he saw Master Jinn lying in a bed. He looked pale, and his long hair had been tied up very tightly so that it wouldn’t get in the way of anything. There was no one else in the room. Anakin hesitated just outside of the room.

Jinn was the one who had rescued Anakin from a life of slavery and misery, and had brought him to the temple, and advocated for him even though he was already on the old side for a beginner. And according to Yoda, Jinn had interest in taking Anakin on as his padawan. But Anakin also knew, through various bits of gossip and overheard conversations, that before finding Anakin, Jinn had been considering taking Obi-Wan. Not to mention the fact that it was Jinn’s fault Obi-Wan was hurt right now.

Maybe he’d talk to the Jedi master later, but he decided that right now, his priority was finding Obi-Wan and making sure that he was going to be okay. So Anakin kept going, until he got to the bacta rooms. He really hoped that he’d just missed Obi-Wan in one of the other rooms, because the bacta tanks were only used for really severe injuries. 

Anakin took a deep breath before stepping inside. There were six tanks lined up against the wall, and only one of them was occupied. The force sang out to Anakin as soon as he spotted his friend, and he hurried forward. He hadn’t even noticed anyone else in the room until he was almost tripping over a cane that had abruptly been held up in front of him, and he came to a stop. “Master Yoda. Do you know what exactly happened?”

Yoda nodded once. “Spoken with Master Jinn, we have.”

That was all he said, and Anakin got the feeling that he wasn’t going to learn anything else about the actual incident. He resisted the urge to sigh out loud and roll his eyes. “Is Obi-Wan going to be okay? What’s wrong with him?”

Yoda frowned, and even from someone as old and experienced as the little troll, Anakin could still sense the discomfort leaking out from behind his shields. “Badly injured, he was. Almost beyond help, he was.” 

Ankin balled his hands into fists, and wanted to argue that this was exactly why he and Obi-Wan needed to be able to stick together, but he knew that now wasn’t the right time to be bringing that up. It would only make him look too emotional, too attached. “How long until they pull him out of there?”

“Unsure, the healers are.”

Anakin just wanted to make sure that he was there when Obi-Wan woke up, because he didn’t want his friend to feel too scared or alone. “Can I stay here? Please?” He asked in a soft voice, hoping desperately that Yoda would let him, since he had been summoned here, presumably to see Obi-Wan. 

Yoda gave him a long look. “Miss your lessons, you cannot. Stay here, otherwise you may. Speak with Master Jinn, first we must.”

Anakin felt slightly confused, but he followed Yoda back down the hallway to Jinn’s room. He couldn’t deny that he was curious as to why Jinn would want to speak with him while he was busy recovering. They went into Jinn’s room, and as soon as he saw them enter, he shifted and moved to sit upright, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. Yoda didn’t bother to protest, which was probably contributed to the fact that Jinn was rather well known by his reputation of being stubborn. 

Yoda bowed his head once Jinn looked like he was settled enough to talk. “Brought Skywalker, I have. Give your announcement, will you?”

Jinn nodded, and then his eyes shifted over to Anakin. “It is good to see you again,” he said in a rough voice. “I know that we have not had much time to speak in the past couple of years, but I have heard a lot of good things about you from the teachers. Which is why I would like to informally ask you if you would like to be my padawan. I know that you aren’t meant to have any say in the matter, but for a widely regarded student such as yourself, I thought that it might be nice to know that you have options. So would you-?”

If Anakin agreed to be Jinn’s padawan, then Obi-Wan would just be sent away again and nothing would have been fixed. “No!” At the shocked looks he got from both Yoda and Jinn, Anakin bowed his head down sheepishly, and cleared his throat before speaking again. “If I have other options, then please, can’t you take on Obi-Wan?” He was far too aware of how attached he must sound, and yet he couldn’t stop himself from pleading Obi-Wan’s case. 

Instead of the lecture he was expecting, Anakin heard the sound of laughter. He looked up in surprise, and saw that his ears weren’t deceiving him. Jinn was laughing, and it had the slightly wheezy tone of someone who had injured ribs, but it didn’t sound any less genuine for it. Anakin was grateful to see that Yoda looked just as confused as Anakin by Jinn’s reaction. The master calmed himself down, and took in a few deep breaths before speaking. “I’m sorry, it’s just that… you and Obi-Wan truly are best friends, aren’t you? On the transport, after everything had happened, I asked Obi-Wan if he wanted to be my padawan. And he said that he could not accept because he felt that you deserved the opportunity more.”

Yoda let out his own version of a barking laugh. “See now, do I.” He gave Anakin an unreadable look before continuing. “Warned before, you have been. Dangerous, attachments are. To the dark side, they may lead. Not disallowed, but friendship is.” Then he looked at Jinn. “Unorthodox, this is. Two padawans, will you have?”

Anakin wasn’t even sure if Yoda was being serious or not, but he found himself holding his breath in anticipation, and staring at Jinn with wide eyes. He’d never heard of a case of a master taking on two padawans at the same time. And he definitely didn’t understand why it would be an option if everyone was so sure that he and Obi-Wan were already too close to each other, but he didn’t care about the motivations, all he cared about was whether or not it could actually happen. Being able to have Obi-Wan in his life everyday for at least another ten years, well also being able to become a padawan? It sounded almost too good to be true. But if Yoda’s offer was legitimate, then it was all up to Jinn to decide. 

There was a contemplative look on Jinn’s face, not that anyone could blame him considering the question that he’d just been asked. Then he finally let out a small laugh, and shrugged, only wincing slightly when the movement seemed to stretch at whatever injuries were hiding under his bed clothes. “I’ll admit that I’m rather fond of the both of them. And no one can deny that they are capable of mighty things when they are working together.”

“Capable of, that is not all,” Yoda reminded the other master.

Another few seconds seemed to pass by excruciatingly slowly, and then Jinn nodded once. “If anyone can handle two brats at the same time, it would be me, right?”

“Find them troublesome, even the creche masters do.”

Anakin wanted to yell at Yoda to stop making him and Obi-Wan sound like such a bad deal, but he knew that if he started shouting erratically now, it would surely serve as a massive deal breaker. Instead, he just focused on looking at Jinn as pleadingly as possible. And then, finally, Jinn nodded again. “Very well, then. I shall take them both off of the creche masters’ hands. Do let me know as soon as Obi-Wan is pulled out, will you? I have a few things I need to say to him.”

Anakin couldn’t keep the wide grin off of his face. Everything seemed to be working out just perfectly, and he couldn’t imagine things getting any better. Well, except for the part where Obi-Wan had been injured badly enough to be put into the bacta tanks. But the healers at the temple were the best around and they would surely fix him up good.

He wasn’t sure what the specific response was supposed to be after finding out that someone wanted to take him on, so he settled for bowing his head once. “Thank you for this opportunity, Master Jinn. I promise that I won’t let you down, and neither will Obi-Wan. You won’t regret this decision.”

“I certainly hope not,” Jinn murmured. “Now why don’t you hurry along back to Obi-Wan’s side before you explode from impatience?”

Anakin’s face flushed a light pink at the thought that he was being so obvious about his feelings, but he was mostly just grateful to have been given permission to leave, so he hurried to do as Jinn told him. When he got back to Obi-Wan’s room, there was no differences in Obi-Wan’s status, but Anakin still felt comforted by being in here, as if just his presence would be enough to reinvigorate his best friend.

,,,

“Do you really think that we’re going to find a sith?”

“There’s no need to sound so excited about it,” Obi-Wan grumbled. “No one’s seen a full on sith in thousands of years, and this is one of the few times where I would hate to break a record.”

Anakin rolled his eyes as he nudged at Obi-Wan’s shoulder. “Don’t be such a spoil sport. Besides, you know that with the three of us, there’s no way that a sith would be able to escape alive. After all, I am the ‘chosen one’.”

Anakin could feel it as it seemed like something flicked him in the back of the neck, and he knew that it was just Obi-Wan, though it was always great when he could get Obi-Wan to “abuse” the force more casually. “The only thing you’ve been chosen for is being a pain in the butt.”

Qui-Gon cleared his throat pointedly. “Would both of you mind being quiet? Have you forgotten that we’re supposed to be meditating right now?” 

Anakin let out a soft groan, while Obi-Wan just obediently closed his eyes and slowed his breathing. Ever since they were children, Obi-Wan had been good at meditating. And ever since becoming padawans, he’d only gotten better. It was one of the nicer changes since then. In the past eight years, Obi-Wan constantly acted like he was a droid rather than a person, and it was the rare occasion that he would actually let loose and be playful the way he had been once upon a time. 

But Anakin knew better than to complain about the behavior. When he’d tried that before, it had resulted in a massive argument between them, and Qui-Gon had spent weeks being the middleman between them before he had gotten fed up and forced them to talk to each other. Even then, Obi-Wan hadn’t explained why he acted like such a stick in the mud these days. He simply apologized for yelling, and Anakin did the same. Since then, Anakin had made it his mission in life to catch Obi-Wan off guard enough to get glimpses of the boy that he’d known for so long growing up. 

Right now, though, Anakin wished he could borrow a bit of Obi-Wan’s perfection, because he hated meditating, and it was even worse when he was being forced to do it. He’d just never understood the point, and was more than happy to let it be a thing that just Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan shared.

Even when he tried so hard to clear his mind of thoughts, Anakin would start to think about how difficult it was to do that, and then all his thoughts would creep back in from wherever he’d managed to shove them aside for a moment. So he just closed his eyes and breathed slowly, hoping that the other two men would be absorbed enough in their meditation to not notice how restless he was feeling.

With his eyes closed, he didn’t see anything coming towards him, but suddenly there was a hand resting lightly on his knee. Anakin cracked his eye open, and saw that Obi-Wan was sitting next to him, looking deeply lost in thought, but had clearly moved his hand to touch Anakin, and Anakin couldn’t stop himself from showing off a small goofy grin, and he put his hand on top of Obi-Wan’s.

Even without having gotten any actual meditation done, Anakin felt ready to go up against a thousand sith, though he could feel through their bond that Obi-Wan was a bit worried. Well, he knew that it had to be more than just a bit, because Obi-Wan was normally so good at shielding himself that nothing passed through their bond without him wanting it to.

All three of them seemed to instinctively follow the same trail, even though Anakin couldn’t actually put any words to why he felt like they were going the right way, and he got the feeling that the other two wouldn’t be able to either. 

And then suddenly someone was jumping out at them, waving around a dark red lightsaber, and everything seemed to pass by in a blur. Anakin ignored years of training to rush forward, since he was the strongest with the force amongst the three of them, but he was abruptly flung back into a wall, which he cracked his head against. He groaned, and had to squeeze his eyes shut so that he wouldn’t have to see the way that the entire room seemed to be spinning.

He pulled on the force to try and speed up his recovery, though he had never bothered doing any training with healing, so he had no idea how to use a sharper focus to help himself. At least he could open his eyes without vomiting, though, which was always a good sign. He watched as Obi-Wan fought off the enemy with a look of intense concentration, a drop of sweat beading down his throat. Anakin paused for a moment, mesmerized by Obi-Wan’s moves even though he’d seen them in a million sparring matches.

Then Obi-Wan’s weapon was knocked out of his hands, and it looked like the enemy was about to- but no, Obi-Wan was too good. He used the force to push back against the enemy’s saber so that it was just hovering in the air right in front of Obi-Wan’s face. 

Anakin scrambled to his feet, wanting to jump in and help. He looked around for a moment to try and find their master, because surely Qui-Gon would not take his ‘teachable moments’ philosophy to the point of getting one of his padawans killed. And there was Qui-Gon, fighting off a different enemy. The two enemies had a vague resemblance, perhaps relatives of some sort, but that was unimportant at the moment. 

Both men seemed to be struggling, and Anakin clutched his saber so tightly that his knuckles went white. As much as he loved Qui-Gon, there was no more than a couple seconds of hesitation before Anakin was running towards Obi-Wan. He tried to justify it to himself; Obi-Wan had no weapon and less experience, so he was in more need of assistance. But the truth was that Anakin felt like his heart would just stop if anything were to happen to Obi-Wan. Sure, they’d both had their fair share of scrapes and bruises over the years, some more serious than others, but this was the first time in a long time that Anakin was afraid that Obi-Wan was going to die right in front of him.

He leapt into the fray, fighting off the saber that had been about to slice right into Obi-Wan’s face. Obi-Wan used the distraction to call his own saber back into his hand, and then through the bond, Anakin let him know that he could handle the fight. Obi-Wan barely even nodded before running towards their master to help him. 

Anakin was concentrating solely on the enemy in front of him, and even grinned at the strange dance they were doing around each other. There was a sharp fizzling noise every time their weapons clashed together, and adrenaline was racing through Anakin’s body. He felt so alive, and he also felt certain that he could win this fight all on his own. 

But then he was stopped short by a sudden fierce pain raging through the learners bond that he shared with Qui-Gon, as well a sharp burst of fear and horror from his bond with Obi-Wan. Anakin risked a glance over his shoulder, and saw one end of the other enemy’s double sided saber being pulled out of Qui-Gon’s chest before turning to Obi-Wan. 

Anakin wanted to leap to his best friend’s defense, but then he felt the heat and smelled burning cloth as his own enemy slightly singed his sleeve, and Anakin turned back to his own fight. He tried to block out his bonds so that he could focus better, but he couldn’t stop himself from feeling his learners bond grow more and more faint, and he felt a surge of anger rush through him that was all his own. How dare these people try and take away his master?

His playful grin of before was completely gone, replaced with a serious grimace as his attacks grew more aggressive. He no longer cared about disarming and capturing the enemy, only about stopping them from causing anymore harm. 

The enemy seemed thrown off by the cold anger radiating from Anakin, and it felt like almost no time at all had passed before Anakin saw an opportunity and went for it. A moment later, there was a head rolling across the ground, and the body quickly tumbled down after it. Then he turned just in time to see Obi-Wan tumbling back into a giant hole in the ground, and Anakin’s eyes widened in alarm. He could see Qui-Gon’s body on the ground, and there was no way that Anakin was going to lose both of his most important people in one day. He could not allow that to happen. 

He raced over to the enemy that was still standing, letting out a loud roar of anger and hatred. But before he was close enough to make a single hit, Qui-Gon’s fallen saber was zooming over to that pit just as Obi-Wan sprang up out of it to grab the weapon and slash it at the enemy, cutting the man right in half as he fell backwards into the pit himself.

It all happened so quickly that Anakin barely even had time to register the fact that Obi-Wan was alive before Obi-Wan was falling to his knees next to their dead master, tears clinging to his eyelashes. Anakin gulped before following suite. “This is all my fault,” Obi-Wan whispered. “If I was better, then he wouldn’t have had to compensate for me, and he wouldn’t be-” his voice broke, and he bowed his head down, squeezing his eyes shut.

Anakin felt completely useless. What was he supposed to do to make things better when there wasn’t anything left to fight? If he really wanted to honor Qui-Gon’s memory, he would tell Obi-Wan to meditate and release his feelings into the force. But without their master able to give them any more instructions, Anakin decided to follow his instincts instead. He clipped his saber to his belt, and then reached over to pull the smaller man into a tight hug. 

For a moment, it felt like Obi-Wan wanted to resist the comfort, but Anakin rubbed his hand along Obi-Wan’s back while making shushing noises, and then his fellow padawan practically melted into the embrace. Obi-Wan was clinging to Anakin’s shirt, his shoulders moving up and down as he silently wept, and Anakin could feel the tears soaking into his shirt. 

They had to leave eventually, though, and Anakin used the force to bring Qui-Gon’s body back to the ship with them. He had to guide Obi-Wan into his seat and buckle the man in as he stared off vacantly. Anakin could only hope that this was a temporary effect. How many times had he wished to prove that Obi-Wan still had emotions? And yet now he only wished that the utter devastation bogging down their bond would go away and return to the normal shielded stiffness that Obi-Wan usually displayed.

,,,

Normally, there was a joyous ceremony as a padawan’s braid was severed. But everyone seemed to be in agreement that the circumstances of Obi-Wan and Anakin’s graduation were not pleasant at all. There had been a lot of discussion on the topic, before the council had finally decided that they were too old to be pairing with a new master, and they went through with their knight trials. They both passed with flying colors, to nobody’s surprise. 

Since Qui-Gon wasn’t there to send them off into the world, Yoda was the one who chopped their braids off, and officially declared them to be jedi knights. It all happened so quietly, and it felt quite unnatural. Anakin reached out to assure himself that his bond with Obi-Wan still existed. 

When they had first returned, they had been sent to see mind healers to help them after having their learner bonds cut so swiftly and violently. They’d been informed then that they would need to dissolve the bond that they shared with each other once they had officially graduated, but that they would be given some time to adjust, first.

The ceremony was over and Obi-Wan and Anakin were heading back to the apartment they had shared with Qui-Gon, but neither of them said anything about the bond. Anakin figured that Obi-Wan was too stressed to be thinking of it, and he decided that he wouldn’t say anything to remind the other man. The bond brought him comfort, even if Obi-Wan was shielding himself more strongly than ever. And didn’t they both deserve some comfort in these trying times?

,,,

It was only a week after they were knighted that Anakin was summoned before the council. They gave him his first assignment, and then told him that he was to be paired up with another new knight. He nodded in relief, prepared to hear Obi-Wan’s name. “Knight Telerasa, you will be accompanied by.”

Anakin blinked a few times in confusion. He knew a thousand times over not to talk back to the council, but he couldn’t stop himself. “I’m sorry, but I think that there must be some kind of mistake. I believe you meant to say that I will be partnered with Obi-Wan on this, right?”

Windu had a stern look on his face as he shook his head. “You and Knight Kenobi have spent many years working together and growing comfortable with one another, but you must learn how to work alongside others who have unique styles and different training. If you cannot handle that, then perhaps you are not yet ready to be a knight.”

Anakin clenched his jaw. “I can handle it,” he bit out. Then he hurried out of the room. Obi-Wan was waiting for him out in the hallway, leaning casually up against the wall opposite the doors. “We’re being given separate assignments.”

He expected Obi-Wan to get as outraged about the situation as he was, but if Obi-Wan felt strongly about it either way, he kept it to himself. “I see,” he said softly. “Good luck, then.”

Anakin scowled, and then stalked forward until he was standing directly in front of Obi-Wan. He reached out to slam both of his hands against the wall on either side of Obi-Wan’s head, caging the other man in. “That’s it? A single ‘good luck’ and over a decade of friendship is over?”

Obi-Wan arched one eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. “I fail to see how being given separate assignments means the termination of our friendship.”

Anakin took a few deep breaths in and out to stop himself from shouting. “Obi-Wan, don’t you see? They’re trying to tear us apart from each other! They don’t want us to be together, because they’re all afraid of how strong we are when we’re with each other! We can’t let them-!”

Obi-Wan shoved gently at Anakin, using a bit of the force to assist him. Anakin was surprised enough by the attack that he stumbled back a couple of steps, and Obi-Wan was able to slip free. “Nothing is going to take away our friendship, Ani,” he said in a far too gentle voice. “But part of growing up is learning how to be our own people. This is a good thing. Neither of us know who we are without the other.” He reached out to touch Anakin’s cheek, and Anakin reached up to trap Obi-Wan’s hand there, enjoying the feeling of it against his skin, and the way it made his stomach twist around in the way that it only ever did around Obi-Wan. “If anything truly dire were to happen, we still have a way of getting in touch,” Obi-Wan whispered. 

That was as good as confessing out loud that Obi-Wan had intentionally not said anything about dissolving their bond, and that’s what made Anakin’s shoulders slump down. It meant that Obi-Wan did still want to be friends with him. He gently took hold of Obi-Wan’s hand and lowered it back down, but then gave a tight squeeze instead of letting go. “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan. You’re right. I’ll just- I’m going to be worried about you the whole time we’re apart.”

And then Obi-Wan offered one of those rare, brilliant smiles of his. The ones that made Anakin want to do anything to make it last more than a few seconds. “And I will be worried about you as well,” he insisted. “However, we are both capable knights, and I don’t foresee any problems for either of us.”

“Don’t say that,” Anakin laughed. “You’ll jinx us. But mostly you’ll jinx yourself. You have the absolute worst luck, Obi-Wan.”

Obi-Wan laughed as well, and Anakin thought that he was going to melt into a little puddle on the ground for the privilege of being able to hear such a beautiful sound. “A total trouble magnet is what Master Jinn always said.” 

Then they were both silent for a moment as they thought about their master. He had been unorthodox for sure, but the other jedi had never truly resented him or disliked him for his eccentricities. And it had all worked out in Anakin’s favor in the end. He only wished that the man had been there to see his two padawans knighted. 

Though he rarely talked about his old padawan, the one that had nearly killed Obi-Wan, Anakin had figured out that Qui-Gon blamed himself for the boy going to the darkside, and hadn’t wanted to take on anyone else because he had feared that he was cursed. It would have made him so happy to see that he had raised not just one, but two successful knights. “I miss him,” Anakin admitted quietly, even though he knew that he shouldn’t be confessing to having an attachment.”

“Me too,” Obi-Wan responded in an even quieter voice. Then he pulled his hand free. “I should head in there now to find out my own assignment.” Anakin nodded, feeling slightly numb as he watched Obi-Wan walk away from him. Even though he knew that they were still friends, he couldn’t avoid the sinking feeling in his stomach that Obi-Wan was already slipping out of his grasp.

,,,

Even through those shields, Anakin could feel Obi-Wan’s excitement floating around, and he couldn’t help grinning at the contagious feeling. “I have a surprise for you,” Obi-Wan said almost shyly. “I hadn’t meant to- I mean- I’ll just let you see for yourself,” he stammered out. Then he grabbed Anakin’s hand to lead him down the hallway. 

Anakin felt warm all over, but especially at the spots where their skin was pressed together, and he gladly let himself be dragged along. They stopped in front of their shared apartment, and then Obi-Wan used the force to open the door. Anakin gave him a bemused look before stepping inside the living room. 

He felt frozen in place when he saw someone waiting on the couch, and she immediately got to her feet when she saw them enter. “Happy birthday, Ani,” she said in a voice rougher than the one Anakin remembered.

He let go of Obi-Wan’s hands to charge forward and pull the woman into a tight hug. “Mother,” he breathed out. He hadn’t seen her in so long, and she seemed so much smaller than in all his memories, but she felt like home. In the creche, some of the other younglings had been jealous of him. They had all been dropped off at the temple when they were still too young to have any memories of family at all. It was supposed to help them avoid attachments, as cruel as it seemed to Anakin. It had been made very clear that he would not be given the chance to go back and ever visit his mother again, and Anakin had only accepted it because he knew that it was what she had wanted for him, and because he had gotten Obi-Wan. 

Thinking of Obi-Wan made him glance back over his shoulder. The other man had already left, quietly closing the door behind them. He probably wanted to give them some privacy to catch up. Anakin had no idea how Obi-Wan had gotten his mother to Coruscant at all, let alone into the temple. He would have to ask later, after he’d gotten his fill of his mother. 

As he went into the kitchen to get more tea for his mother, he felt a lightness in his heart, and his hand jerked and spilled some heart water across the counter as he realized what it meant. He had always loved Obi-Wan, for as long as he could remember, but now he was pretty sure that there was more to it than just that. He was pretty sure that he was in love with the man. It was lucky for him, then, that Obi-Wan had provided him with the one person who he could safely talk to about any of this, and he hurried back with the tea, eager for his mother’s advice. 

,,,

Anakin hesitantly walked into the senator’s office. He had no idea why he would be specifically summoned here, and he couldn’t help feeling slightly annoyed to be called in. It was so rare for him and Obi-Wan to both be in the temple at the same time for longer than a day, and he wanted to savor every moment of the other man’s presence. But he wasn’t stupid enough to think he could just skip out on a meeting with the senator when he had been requested by name, so he knew that he had to just suck it up and get through this as quickly as possible so that he could get back to his Obi-Wan.

The senator gave him a cheerful smile, and beckoned towards him. “Come on, come in, please, take a seat.” Anakin sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “I’m so glad that you could make it on such short notice, Knight Skywalker. Ah, but enough with formalities. May I call you Anakin?” Anakin nodded, and it seemed to make the man weirdly happy. “Excellent, my boy!”

As the senator poured out some tea, Anakin couldn’t help feeling impatient. He cleared his throat once. “I’m honored that you want to speak with me, Senator, but I can’t think of any reason why you would want to talk to me of all people.”

Palpatine scoffed. “Of course I would want to speak with you! I’ve heard so many great things about your service to the Jedi order. There is a great deal of talk about your many successes. But I know how the Jedi can be at times, so stingy with their praise, and I merely wanted to make sure that someone was complimenting you on all the fine work that you have done.”

Anakin had nothing against the man in front of him, but he couldn’t deny that a single, ‘Good work, Anakin,’ from Obi-Wan in the glow of a battle’s aftermath was much more satisfying than any amount of praise that anyone else could possibly heap upon him. “That’s very kind of you, Senator, but I really must be-”

Palpatine leaned back in his seat, and pressed his hands together. “I know that you must be in such high demand, considering all of your talent, but could you possibly spare some time to entertain an old man and tell him some tales of grand adventures?”

Anakin sighed, but his annoyance was already fading away. He couldn’t deny that it was nice to have someone actually care about him. Of course he knew that Obi-Wan cared, but they had so little time to see each other, so when they did cross paths, Anakin always insisted on hearing ever detail he could about Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan always reluctantly obliged. And while Anakin loved it, it was nice to be able to just talk on and on about his own stories, without having to worry about running out of time, and without having to carefully hide his own feelings all the while. 

Before he knew it, it was dark out, and he knew that he had to go. “Thank you again for meeting with me, Senator.”

Palpatine nodded. “Of course, my boy. It was no hardship at all to talk with you. And if you ever need to talk again, when the Jedi get to be too much, my door is always open to you.” 

Anakin headed home feeling lighter than he had in awhile. The feeling dissipated quickly, though, when he entered the apartment. He could smell the faint lingering traces of Obi-Wan’s amazing cooking, but there was no food set out. He glanced in the fridge, and saw a plate covered in wrapping. He closed his eyes in frustration when he realized what must’ve happened. Before he’d left, he’d told Obi-Wan that he wouldn’t be gone long at all, so Obi-Wan had made them both dinner, but Anakin hadn’t returned to eat it. He checked his communicator, and saw that Obi-Wan had tried to call him just once. Which made sense, because if Anakin didn’t answer, and Obi-Wan couldn’t sense any danger through their bond, he would probably just assume that Anakin was too busy. 

He lifted up a corner of the wrapping, and saw a plate of all his favorites. The kinds of things that could never be found out in the field, and Anakin’s stomach growled loudly in protest of the fact that all he’d had all afternoon was tea. 

But he couldn’t eat until he made sure that everything was okay with Obi-Wan. He went to knock on Obi-Wan’s bedroom door, and when he got no answer, he cracked it open. It wasn’t locked, which seemed to be a good sign. But when Anakin poked his head in, it was clear that Obi-Wan wasn’t in there.

Anakin closed his eyes, and focused on the bond between them. He followed it through the temple, until he ended up at the room of a thousand fountains. He should have known to go there. When they were younger, it had been Obi-Wan’s favorite place to hide from all the other younglings. He claimed it was a peaceful place to practice meditation. 

He found Obi-Wan sitting with his back up against a wide tree, hands resting on his knees and eyes closed. Anakin crouched down in front of his friend. “Obi-Wan, I’m sorry that I missed dinner. I swear I didn’t mean to.”

“I know,” Obi-Wan responded with his eyes still closed. “It is only a dinner, and should taste just about the same when reheated.”

Anakin knew damn well that it wasn’t just a dinner, but trying to start an argument with Obi-Wan seemed somewhat counterproductive, so he just shrugged. “Well, either way, I’m sorry that I missed the chance to spend some time with you. And everyone in the temple knows that you’re one of the best cooks in the system. But hey, we still have almost two entire weeks of leave left, and…” he trailed off when he saw the slight grimace on Obi-Wan’s face. “What?” he demanded.

That’s when Obi-Wan finally opened his eyes, and Anakin sat back on his butt from the force of seeing them stare intently at him. They had to be the loveliest eyes in the galaxy. “I’ve been called out. I have to leave tomorrow.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes. “But you can’t!”

“The Agdalorians insisted that they would only speak if I was there, because they were impressed by my diplomacy the last time that I was there. We need this treaty with them to go through as quickly as possible, so this mission cannot be delayed.”

“Bantha shit!” Anakin barked out. “You promised that we’d have two weeks together! You promised, Obi-Wan! And now you’re just going to leave after two days? Like I don’t even matter? You’re just another person in this stupid temple who doesn’t care about me-!” Of course Obi-Wan had never actually used the word 'promise' but he should have known that Anakin would take it as such. 

Obi-Wan’s eyes were wide with alarm, and he quickly shifted to his knees so that he could lean closer to Anakin. “Where is this coming from?” But then he hurried on without waiting for answer. “Of course I care about you! I care about you so much that I hate myself for it, because even when I’m away from you for months on end, I still can’t stop thinking about you, and when I feel you in danger through our bond, I always fear the worst, and I hate myself for not being able to stay unattached, and I can’t-”

Obi-Wan had just admitted to being attached to Anakin. Out loud. It had always been obvious that they were close friends, but Anakin had always thought that Obi-Wan was far too much of a stickler for the rules to ever actually let himself get attached. Instead of listening to Obi-Wan say a single sentence further about hating himself, Anakin closed the remaining distance between them to kiss Obi-Wan. 

Their teeth clacked together almost painfully, and Anakin managed to bite his own tongue in the process, but it was the most perfect kiss Anakin had ever had before. And he knew that it was solely because it was with Obi-Wan. Then he slowly pulled back to see the dazed look on Obi-Wan’s face. “Was that your first kiss?” He knew that that wasn’t important at the moment, but he couldn’t help asking. Obi-Wan nodded once, and Anakin felt a possessive glee at the knowledge that he’d gotten Obi-Wan’s first. 

He felt so light and wanted to just shout out how much he loved Obi-Wan, but Anakin knew that he needed to go slowly if he didn’t want to spook the other man away. So he settled for reaching out to take both of Obi-Wan’s hands in his own. Obi-Wan gulped, and then looked down at the ground, though Anakin could still see the flush in his cheeks. “Why did you do that?”

“I’ve wanted to for a long time,” Anakin confessed. “At least since you rescued my mother, but probably even further back than that without me realizing it. Was it okay?”

He meant ‘was it okay that he’d done that at all’, but Obi-Wan seemed to take it as ‘was the quality of the kiss okay’. “I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it seemed… nice,” Obi-Wan said in stiff voice. Anakin didn’t mind the misunderstanding at all. 

Anakin grinned. “I’ll have to keep trying, then, until I can get you somewhere a lot higher than ‘nice’.” Then he hesitated. “If you want to do that again?”

He felt like his heart was about to pound out of his chest as Obi-Wan pulled his hands free to reach up and push his hair back. Then he nodded once. “I suppose I- I didn’t mind it.” That was probably as close as Anakin was going to get to a ringing endorsement from someone like Obi-Wan. “But I don’t know if I can stop myself from getting more attached than I already am.”

“It’s okay,” Anakin whispered. “We can have this without losing focus on our jobs, I promise.” He was mostly just saying that to comfort Obi-Wan, because he wasn’t actually sure if that was true at all. Though he did know that up until now, he’d always been so distracted by Obi-Wan all the time anyways that he couldn’t imagine that getting any worse now that he knew Obi-Wan was his for real. He gave Obi-Wan another kiss before pulling back so that they could rest their foreheads together. “Just stay here with me for right now. I know you have to leave tomorrow, but in this moment, let me pretend that I have all the time in the world with you.”

Obi-Wan nodded. “That would be nice,” he whispered back. And they stayed there like that, long after Anakin could feel his legs cramping up uncomfortably, and his stomach felt hollow from hunger. Any amount of discomfort was worth it if it meant getting to be with Obi-Wan.

,,,

Anakin didn’t understand how one minute everyone had been at peace, and the next, there was a war raging on. Suddenly Anakin was being given the 501st legion of clone soldiers, and Obi-Wan had the 212th. They were being sent into too many battles to even keep track of, and Anakin hated the council for constantly bouncing them planet to planet without actually understanding anything that was going on. He also hated them for saddling him with a padawan, though he found that she began to grow on him. 

It was in one of the rare moments of quiet, as Anakin’s men patched themselves up and Anakin was planning their next move, that he felt a sudden jolt through his bond with Obi-Wan. It came as a complete shock, because Ahsoka always seemed to have so many emotions swirling through her learner bond that it seemed to outshine Obi-Wan’s shielded one. 

He quickly grabbed his communicator to call Obi-Wan, and begged for the other man to answer. No one did. He kept trying for several minutes, to no avail. There was no way that Anakin could just stand around and do nothing while Obi-Wan was in such agonizing pain that he let it through to Anakin, and he decided to call the council. He was vaguely aware of Ahsoka calling out to him, but he couldn’t pay attention to her when his thoughts were consumed by worry for his lover. 

Apparently Yoda was the only one in the chambers at the moment, but Anakin didn’t care who was there, only that they would tell him what the hell was going on. “What’s happened to Obi-Wan?” 

Yoda let out a tired sigh. “What you speak of, I know not.”

Anakin furrowed his eyebrows. “What’s the latest update you have from the 212th? Please, check!”

Yoda’s little hologram figure was giving Anakin a strange look, but then he went over to call someone else. “The latest from Etermon, bring me,” he requested. There was a few minutes of waiting in tense silence, and then Yoda spoke again. “Captured by Dooku, Kenobi has been.” And then he looked directly at Anakin. “Not to pursue him, you are.”

Anakin hung up the call without answering. There was no way in hell that Anakin was just going to stay here and do nothing while Obi-Wan was being tortured by a sadist. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that this was exactly why Jedi were warned against building attachments, and yet, he could not find it within himself to care about the consequences. He just knew that Obi-Wan was in trouble, and he needed to rescue him.

It didn’t take long to pack up his men and Ahsoka and head to Etermon. He had no idea of whether or not Obi-Wan was still there, but it would be the best place to start searching. He forced the ship to go faster than recommended, and then paused halfway to the little moon as he focused on the pain leaking through their bond. He realized that he could follow it to Obi-Wan, even over such a vast distance, and wondered when he had gotten the ability to do that.

He quickly recharted their course, and flew as if everything depended on it. It took less than a day to reach Dooku’s ship, which was moving slowly and casually through space, as if they had all the time in the world to go. Closer now, Anakin could get a better grasp of Obi-Wan’s feelings. Either that, or it was because Obi-Wan was in too much pain to hide it as much as he wanted to.

Anakin and his men stormed the ship, taking down droids left and right, and then fighting against Dooku. The entire battle seemed to pass by in a blur, and then Dooku was getting onto an escape pod and jetting away. As much as Anakin wanted to chase after the man and tear him limb from limb for daring to touch Obi-Wan, he knew that it was more important to stay here and help.

He quickly followed the bond through the ship, until he reached a lower level. He used the force to tear the door off of a cramped little room, and spotted Obi-Wan instantly since he was the only thing in the room. He was chained to the wall, slumped forward enough that his arms had clearly been pulled out of the sockets. There was a force inhibiting collar wrapped tightly around his throat, and so many trails of blood that Anakin wasn’t sure where he could touch Obi-Wan without causing more pain.

First he broke the chains holding up Obi-Wan, and then quickly caught the man as he collapsed to the floor, eyes glazed over and barely looked around the room. Then Anakin carefully removed the collar, glaring hotly at the bright red lines of blood left behind. He was tempted to change his mind and go after Dooku. It was only the knowledge that Obi-Wan needed him here that kept him in place.

Anakin was very careful as he brought Obi-Wan back aboard his ship, and pulled out some bacta patches to lay across the bigger injuries. He left Rex in charge of getting them back to the temple, and he refused to take his eyes off of Obi-Wan the entire time they traveled. At one point, Obi-Wan blinked and looked around blearily. “Where ‘m I?”

“You’re safe,” Anakin whispered. “You’re going to be alright, I promise.” 

Obi-Wan smiled, though with how cracked his lips were, it looked more horrifying than anything. “Thanks,” he whispered back, before closing his eyes to rest. 

,,,

Anakin didn’t care how much the council berated him. He’d rescued Obi-Wan, and that was all that mattered. Though he did feel guilty once he heard that there had been many casualties at his abandoned post. If he had been there, he probably could have won the battle for the Jedi. But then Obi-Wan would have been even worse off, and that was a thought that Anakin just couldn’t bear.

Windu gave him a hard look. “Your friendship with Kenobi has become far too entangled in attachment. You disobeyed a direct order, and rescued a single man at the expense of forty others.”

Anakin frowned. “So you’re saying that Obi-Wan should’ve just been left to rot?”

There was more shouting and arguments, but Anakin tuned it out. He’d already heard the parts that mattered. The council didn’t actually care about any of them, and would have left Obi-Wan to die for the sake of their precious war. And it pissed Anakin off more than he could put into words. So he just stood there silently for several minutes. And then Yoda spoke up. “Separated, you two must be. Rest now, you should.”

Anakin stormed out of the room, feeling like he must have steam coiling up out of his ears from how angry and red-faced he was. He headed straight to the infirmary, and found Obi-Wan. He sat down next to him, and waited there until Obi-Wan woke up more fully. “What happened? You should be able to take Dooku in a fight.”

Obi-Wan sighed, and had that look on his face that meant he was going to say something that Anakin wasn’t going to like. “He took us by surprise. He captured an entire squad of shinies. The poor men were terrified. It’s like throwing babies out into the middle of a war zone and just expecting them to adapt.” Anakin furrowed his eyebrows, confused about where this was headed, but he didn’t interrupt. “Dooku offered an exchange. One life for twenty-five. I had to, Anakin.”

Anakin’s eyes widened. “So you just let yourself be captured and tortured? How could you be so stupid? You know about my dreams, and then you go and-”

Obi-Wan struggled to sit up, and then gave Anakin a quick kiss before flopping back down against the pillows. “I did what was right, Ani. It’s our job as leaders to look out for our men, no matter the circumstances. Of course I don’t want to leave you, but I have to do my duty to the Jedi, and to the people.”

They both stayed there together for a while, until the council arrived to get Obi-Wan’s report. It was clear from the look in their eyes that Anakin was being dismissed, and he left quickly, hoping that showing some cooperation would change their minds about trying to keep him and Obi-Wan separated. Because he knew for sure that he would not let anything come in between him and the man he loved.

,,,

Obi-Wan was given the title of ‘master’ as a reward for his actions, and Anakin wanted to punch every council member in the face. Maybe even a couple of times each. Not because he was jealous, as some seemed to think, but because he was pissed. They were only encouraging Obi-Wan’s actions. They were telling him that he was right to think of himself as dispensable. They should be lecturing him and taking him off active duty. Instead, they were letting him know the truth of just how little they cared for their own people.

Because of the active war going on, there was no time for a ceremony. Instead, a brief memo was sent out that Obi-Wan had been made a master, and that was that. He was already being sent back out into the field while the marks across his body hadn’t even faded from an angry red yet, and Anakin wanted to scream out loud about how stupid everyone was being.

Anakin wasn’t deployed back out, at least not right away. He was basically on house arrest within the temple, and found it unfair that he was being punished for saving someone, when Obi-Wan had been rewarded for throwing his own life away. There was clearly something seriously wrong with the council.

Luckily, before he could go too out of his mind with concern, Anakin was summoned to Senator Palpatine’s office again. He’d gone there several times over the past couple of years, and had built up a friendly rapport with the man. He was one of the only people Anakin could trust to discuss his displeasure with the Jedi with. Anakin didn’t try very hard to hide his distress, and Palpatine asked him about it right away. “What is troubling you, my boy?”

He hesitated for just a moment before answering. He had never told Palpatine a specific name, but the senator was the only one who knew that he was in a very serious relationship with another Jedi, and he was pretty sure that the man was more than smart enough to put the pieces together. “The council has put the person I love into great danger because of his loyalty to them, and now they’ve sent him right back out before he’s even finished healing.”

“Yes, the council can make rather rash decisions at times,” Palpatine said sympathetically. “I’ve always believed that the Jedi should not be ruling over themselves, as they are unable to look beyond the force to see the world around them. They have no concern for the disasters that they cause, and feel immune to criticism. They do not have your best interests at heart the way that I do.”

Anakin frowned. “They refuse to listen to me about anything. I just need a way to make them listen to me, you know? And now…” he trailed off, but then decided to continue on. He was sure that Palpatine already knew the identity of his lover, and he needed to get this off of his chest. “And now Obi-Wan has been made a master, and I fear that it only increases his loyalty to the council, while pulling him even further away from me. And even since I rescued him, my dreams have been growing far worse. It’s hard to believe that they are not real.”

Palpatine stroked his chin while he sat and thought for a moment before answering. “Perhaps what you need is not to pull Obi-Wan back, but to propel yourself forward so that you could keep up with him. I know that I am but a foolish old man, but I have some small degree of power. Perhaps I could put in a good word with the council, and get you your very own seat.”

That got Anakin to stop and stare. Was it even possible to force his way onto the council? He could think of so many things that he would want to change if he had a seat, and all the ways he could help the Jedi and run the temple better, and just make everyone’s lives easier. “But if I get a seat from means other than the council extending the offer themselves, won’t they resent me for it? Being on the council won’t do any good if none of them will listen to me.”

“They will listen to you,” Palpatine promised. 

Being on the council would mean that Obi-Wan wouldn’t be running out of Anakin’s reach. And it would give him more power to protect Obi-Wan so that those horrible nightmares couldn’t actually come true. It would also mean that the council couldn’t just decide to keep him apart from Obi-Wan, because he wouldn’t allow them to do that. So he nodded once. “I would be in your debt, Senator. I have no words for how appreciative I am of your offer.”

Palpatine smiled. “I am sure that you will find a way to pay me back for this favor someday, Anakin.”

,,,

“Master, are we grounded for the rest of the war?”

Anakin looked over at where Ahsoka was standing hesitantly in the doorway to his bedroom. They still lived in the same apartment that had once been Qui-Gon’s, though now Ahsoka occupied the room that the late master had once used. Anakin had been quite pissed when he’d come back a few days earlier to find all of Obi-Wan’s things gone. He’d been moved into a new apartment for masters without padawans while he wasn’t even in the temple to protest. 

But soon Palpatine’s favor would go through, and Anakin would be on the council. He would force them to rescind their statement about separating Anakin and Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan would be allowed to move back into the apartment that he had spent so much of his life in. It just wasn’t fair to force him out like that. But Anakin wouldn’t let the injustice stand. He wouldn’t let the Jedi order remain so unfair forever. He would have power, soon, and he would be able to use that to change things.

,,,

It was the first time they had seen each other in months, but Obi-Wan was acting aloof and dispassionate. “You have to listen to me, Anakin,” he said slowly. “You’re not listening to me.”

“I am listening! You’re the one who’s acting like you’re not even happy to see me!”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “Of course I’m happy to see you. I always am. I’m just concerned about some of the influences that are being held over you. Senator Palpatine is not your friend, Anakin. Bail Organa and I have been talking, and we think-”

“So you’re cheating on me?” Anakin growled out. He knew even as he said it that it wasn’t true. Obi-Wan would never do something like that. But he couldn’t help the hot flash of jealousy that ran through him at the thought of Obi-Wan talking to another man. Which he knew was completely ridiculous, because they both talked to all kinds of people all the time as part of their job. Or at least they did when they weren’t in the middle of a war.

Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, and he pressed his lips together in a thin line. “It’s a pleasure to know you think so little of me,” he said in a flat tone. “But regardless of that, you still need to understand that you cannot trust Senator Palpatine. I don’t know what he’s up to exactly, but it can’t be anything good, and for him to want you in his pocket the way he so clearly does-”

Anakin cut Obi-Wan off again. “So now you’re saying that the only reason anyone would want to talk to me is because they have some ulterior motive? Is it really so difficult to believe that someone might actually like me and want to help me?”

Obi-Wan stuck his hands into his pockets. “I’m trying to help you. Palpatine is trying to use you. I’m sorry that you can’t see that for yourself.” Then he turned to walk away.

Anakin reached out to grab Obi-Wan’s arm, gripping tighter than necessary to keep the man from leaving. “Wait! I’m sorry, Obi-Wan, I didn’t mean to say any of that stuff. I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but sometimes, I just start to feel like I’m about to explode, and all this crap will come out, but I swear that I didn’t mean any of it. I’m sorry, don’t go, please. I love you!” 

Then it felt like the entire world paused in the wake of that last statement. Surely Obi-Wan had to have already known, since Anakin was shit at hiding his feelings just from showing on his face, let alone from the bond. But the words had never been spoken aloud before, and now Anakin was frozen in terror at the idea that he’d just ruined everything forever. He forcefully pried his own fingers off of Obi-Wan’s arm, and took a small step back, looking away and waiting for Obi-Wan’s judgement.

The pause between them seemed to stretch out for an eternity before Anakin finally felt a gentle hand touch his cheek, bringing up memories of days long passed. “Force be damned, but I love you too,” he whispered. And then a feather-light kiss was brushed against Anakin’s chin before the hand was removed.

Anakin pulled Obi-Wan into a tight hug, and he felt like he never wanted to let go. He’d do whatever he had to in order to make sure that he would never lose this most precious person. “Tell me what you wanted to say- before. I promise that I’ll listen.”

He could feel Obi-Wan’s smile against the base of his throat. “That can wait for just a few minutes more.”

,,,

Anakin gasped as he clung tightly to Obi-Wan. “My dreams are getting worse,” he choked out. “They are visions, and you’re going to die, and-”

There was a serious look on Obi-Wan’s face, and he didn’t dismiss Anakin’s claims right off the bat the way that he usually did. “I won’t leave you, Ani, I promise you that much.” He hesitated for a moment before continuing. “Anakin, know that there is no one else in the world that I would extend this offer to. But I… I can accept leaving the order if it is to be with you.” Anakin’s eyes widened, and he was too shocked to say anything. “But we must help put an end to this war first. Too many lives have been lost, and if we don’t finish this, then too many more will soon be lost as well, whether to death or subjugation. But the second that this war is over, we’ll leave, if that’s what you want. I promise.”

Obi-Wan rarely ever made promises to anyone. He said that it was because he never wanted to offer something that he wouldn’t be able to deliver. So for him to promise now meant that he really did mean it. They’d find the sith lord and win the war and then he and Obi-Wan could ride off into the sunset. Anakin knew that he had to be squeezing Obi-Wan too tightly for it to be comfortable, but he couldn’t help it. “Yes, I want that! I want to just leave and take you and Ahsoka with me, somewhere safe and happy. Can we really have that, Obi-Wan?”

Obi-Wan nodded once. “I promised, didn’t I?”

,,,

“Use your anger, Anakin. Think of all the things that these cowards have done to you. They took you away from your mother, tried to tear you apart from your love, almost let him and you die because they care so little for you, sent your padawan on the run. Feel the power that you can have if you just let your hatred out. Use it, Anakin. Be who you were always meant to be. Who everyone always feared you would become, and tried to hold you back because of it.”

Anakin could feel the anger coursing through him. But he could also feel something else. His bond with Obi-Wan was like a little golden thread pulsing in the back of his mind, and it was a rare moment where Obi-Wan was not shielding like his life depended on it. Anakin could feel the love and affection and occasional exasperation Obi-Wan felt for him, along with a million other things that could never be put into words. There was fear there, but not of Anakin. Only for Anakin, and what his fate might be. 

He could also feel the subtle strengthening of the bond that meant Obi-Wan was getting closer. And as soon as he arrived, he would surely want to assist Anakin in fighting off the sith lord. But Anakin couldn’t allow that to happen. He hadn’t seen Obi-Wan in a couple of days, and there was too much risk that he was wearing the outfit from Anakin’s nightmares, and that this would be where he would die.

Anakin couldn’t lose Obi-Wan. He just couldn’t. So he used the force to slam shut the door behind him, and then pulled out his lightsaber to take his fighting stance. Palpatine’s gnarled face twisted in annoyance. “I’m disappointed in you, Skywalker,” he hissed out. “You have so much potential, but you are willing to throw it all away for a brat who should’ve died decades ago. But rest assured that I will fix this wrongness. I will tear your beloved Obi-Wan Kenobi into shreds as you watch helplessly.”

Anakin narrowed his eyes, and could feel the adrenaline pouring through him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to Obi-Wan. He leapt forward without a word, starting the battle before Palpatine had even drawn out his own weapon. He was quickly shoved back with the force, but it still felt good to have taken the sith by surprise.

He got completely engaged in the fight, focusing everything he had on defeating the man. It was to save the galaxy, but more importantly, to save Obi-Wan. He was so focused that he didn’t even notice his grip on the door dropping, and someone else bursting into the room. And then suddenly he was fighting side by side with Obi-Wan, just like when they had been younger and still learning. It felt good. It felt right. 

They moved almost as one, able to predict each other’s every step without saying a single word out loud. Without even looking at each other a single time. Anakin could feel sweat dripping into his eyes, but he blinked it away, and ignored the physical sensations his body was feeling. There was no time for aching knees or sore arms when up against a sith lord.

One of them managed to disarm Palpatine, and Obi-Wan ran his saber through the weapon as it flew through the air, slicing it right in half so that Palpatine could not summon it back to his hand to use again. Anakin grinned at the victory. They had the man trapped now, and even with the force, it was now two armed men against one unarmed man. It seemed like an obvious victory. 

But Anakin was too cocky, and suddenly his own lightsaber was being yanked away, landing in Palpatine’s wrinkled hand. Anakin was shoved back again, but this time he tripped over a broken piece of furniture that had been a casualty of the fight, and he landed on his butt on the floor. He heard a loud snap as his ankle twisted, and then it felt like his entire lower leg was on fire. 

Palpatine raised one hand, and though Anakin had no idea what was coming, but he knew that it couldn’t be anything pleasant. He tried to scramble away, but there was no way to get to his feet, and the debris scattered all around him made even crawling away seem impossible. And then Obi-Wan was suddenly in front of Anakin, writhing from pain but not saying a word. 

Anakin moved to the side enough to see what was actually going on, and his eyes widened at the sight of bright white lightning hitting Obi-Wan’s chest nonstop. Palpatine cackled. “And now I will rid the galaxy of this problem. Fry him alive until There is nothing left!”

Anakin tried to use the force to shove at Palpatine, but he easily stood his ground while also keeping up the attack. Obi-Wan wasn’t moving as much, and Anakin feared the very worst. Was Obi-Wan going to die right here in front of him? There was a light clatter of metal against tile, and Anakin followed the sound of the noise out of habit. Obi-Wan had managed to move his arm behind himself and dropped the saber right within Anakin’s reach. 

Even now, Obi-Wan was the one saving others, and Anakin would want to stop and yell about it, but first he needed to grab the weapon, and then he used the force to spring over to Palpatine, swinging straight for the sith’s neck. He got in a deep gash before he was flung away. Then the saber was pulled out of his hand and back into Obi-Wan’s, who leapt forward to cut from the other side, meeting in the middle, and severing the head. It fell back to the ground with a sickening expression written across the face. 

There was no time to cheer, though, as Obi-Wan crumpled to the ground. Anakin used the force to hold him up so that he wouldn’t have to put any weight on his ankle, and hobbled over to Obi-Wan as quickly as he could. He propped the man’s head up on his lap. “Don’t you dare die on me, Obi-Wan. You promised, remember? You can’t break a promise. You can’t! You said that you’d never leave me, and you said that after the war is over we’d leave and become farmers, or something. Come on, Obi-Wan!” He pressed his hand flat against Obi-Wan’s chest, but couldn’t feel much movement at all. 

It felt like years passed before the 212th arrived, and both Anakin and Obi-Wan were scooped up and carried out to the ship. Anakin waved aside the offer of pain medication, because he didn’t want anything interfering with his ability to look at Obi-Wan, and wait breathlessly for whether the man would pull through or not. He pleaded under his breath for the force to give him something just this once. 

When his ankle was being set, he blacked out from the pain, and didn’t wake up again until he was back in the infirmary in the temple on Coruscant. He quickly sat up to look around, and when he didn’t see any of the healers, got to his feet. He squeezed his eyes shut as he gingerly took a step forward, and was relieved to find that his ankle didn’t hurt quite as much as before. 

He limped down the hallway, checking every room that he passed for Obi-Wan, until he finally ended up at the bacta tanks. All of them were occupied, and the one on the end had Obi-Wan floating in it. He went up to the tank and pressed his hand against it. “You force damned selfless idiot.”

Someone cleared their throat, and Anakin quickly turned around to see Yoda standing there. “Attached, you two are.” It was the same observation that had been thrown at him for years, so he didn’t know what to say, and just stared at the Jedi master silently. Yoda stared back for a few seconds before continuing. “Defeated the sith lord, you have. Ensured our victory, you have. Attached you are, and yet.”

Anakin blinked a few times before responding. He felt bad speaking for Obi-Wan, but he also believed that Obi-Wan would keep his promise. “We’re leaving the order. We decided that after we defeated the sith and helped end the war, we would go. We have to go. Attachments are forbidden, and I can’t deny that that’s what we are.”

There was a moment of silence, and then suddenly Windu’s voice rang out from the doorway. “Perhaps this is for the best,” he said quietly, as if those in the bacta tanks would be woken up by too loud of a noise. “Maybe it’s time for a new order.”

Anakin stared at the master with wide eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Forbidden, attachments are. Attached, you are. Defeated the sith lord, you have.”

Anakin furrowed his eyebrows as he looked back and forth between Yoda and Windu. “Are you saying that…” he trailed off, not wanting to make any assumptions. “What are you saying?”

Windu sighed. “We’re saying that maybe we were wrong. Thousands of years of tradition say otherwise, but you and Obi-Wan used your attachment to bring about your victory. You defeated a sith lord between just the two of you. Though I suppose it shouldn’t come as a great surprise, considering that you had both killed a sith apprentice each back when you were still just padawans.”

“Slow, change is,” Yoda added. “Not easy, it will come to the Jedi. A new beginning, it may be time for.” Then he made his way over to where Windu was standing. “Say goodbye, before you leave you will.” Then the two masters left the room, and Anakin was left to stare after them, mouth gaping open like an idiot. He never would have thought that he would live to see the day that the council admitted to being wrong about something. Anakin looked back at the tank Obi-Wan was in. He was never going to believe what had just happened.

,,,

Anakin returned home, and saw that Obi-Wan was sitting on the floor in front of the couch, two children imitating his meditation pose. He paused in the doorway, and decided that he rather liked the sight of Obi-Wan with children, though he was pretty sure that he would never be able to share Obi-Wan, even if they were to have kids of their own.

After a minute, Obi-Wan spoke with his eyes still closed. “I know that you’re standing there,” he announced.

Both children started giggling. “Mr. Anakin is a dummy!” the girl shouted out. 

The boy shoved at her arm. “Hey, don’t say that! It’s not nice.”

Obi-Wan opened his eyes to give the children a fond look. “It’s quite alright, Luke. Mr. Anakin is quite the dummy at times.”

Anakin rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, make fun all you want. I’d like to see how smart any of you are after spending a whole day laboring out in the hot sun.” 

“You are a librarian, Anakin,” Obi-Wan said in a mild tone that only just barely hid his amusement. “I fail to see where either labor or the sun comes into play there.”

Anakin grumbled under his breath good naturedly. “Maybe you need to find a new job, Obi-Wan. I think these children are a bad influence on you.” 

Anakin started making dinner, and by the time it was nearly done, the children's parents arrived to pick them up. Obi-Wan ended up convincing them to stick around for dinner, and they all listened as the children chattered on about their day, and about how much they enjoyed being Obi-Wan’s students. They were the only ones, so far, but Anakin knew that Obi-Wan hoped to someday expand to far greater numbers. 

He taught them all the things that he and Anakin had learned themselves, but with a few key differences. The children were not removed from their families, to start with. And though extreme emotions were still released into the force, Obi-Wan also taught them how to talk about their feelings and deal with them in appropriate ways. And there were no strict rules to follow. The times when Anakin watched Obi-Wan at work, he could see the children laughing and having fun with it as Obi-Wan made games out of their lessons.

After dinner was finished and everything had been cleaned up and put away, the children and their parents left, and Anakin abruptly grabbed Obi-Wan to sling him over one shoulder and carry him into the bedroom, where he was dropped down onto the bed. “Now that I have you all to myself,” he purred.

Obi-Wan laughed, and reached up to cup the sides of Anakin’s face. “Just what are you going to do with me?”

Anakin pretended to think about it for a moment. “I think I’m going to aggressively cuddle with you all night long.”

“Oh no, anything but that.”

Anakin dipped his head down to give Obi-Wan a kiss. “I love you,” he said softly. 

“And I love you,” Obi-Wan responded quietly.

So maybe this wasn’t the life that Anakin would have expected for himself. But he couldn’t deny that it was a life he loved more than anything. He had a nice little home, and on holidays, Ahsoka would even come to visit. Anakin's mother lived less than an hour away. Obi-Wan got to teach, while Anakin got to learn all kinds of things from his own job. The children were adorable little brats, though Anakin would never admit to such a thing out loud. 

And at the end of each day, he had Obi-Wan, and they were both so unbearably happy that they made everyone around them jealous. There was nothing else in the world that Anakin could possibly want.


End file.
